U.S. patent number 7,874,853 [Application Number 12/627,759] was granted by the patent office on 2011-01-25 for converter with position adjustable plug.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Buffalo, Inc., Unifive Technology Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Yung-Hsu Chiang, Hiroshi Ozaki.
United States Patent |
7,874,853 |
Chiang , et al. |
January 25, 2011 |
Converter with position adjustable plug
Abstract
A converter has a casing and a plug. The casing has a mounting
recess, multiple position posts, multiple conductive slices and
multiple mounting protrusions. The mounting recess is formed in the
casing. The position posts are formed on and protrude from the
mounting recess. The conductive slices are mounted around the
position posts. The mounting protrusions are formed on the mounting
recess. The plug is detachably mounted on the casing and has an
escutcheon, an engaging protrusion and multiple terminals. The
escutcheon covers the mounting recess. The engaging protrusion is
formed on the escutcheon, is mounted in the mounting recess and has
a position groove and multiple holding grooves. The position is
annular formed in the engaging protrusion and is mounted around the
position posts. The holding grooves are formed on the engaging
protrusion and engage the mounting protrusions. The terminals are
formed on the escutcheon.
Inventors: |
Chiang; Yung-Hsu (Taichung
Hsien, TW), Ozaki; Hiroshi (Nagoya, JP) |
Assignee: |
Buffalo, Inc. (Nagoya,
JP)
Unifive Technology Co., Ltd. (Fongyuan, TW)
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Family
ID: |
41821754 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/627,759 |
Filed: |
November 30, 2009 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20100173526 A1 |
Jul 8, 2010 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jan 6, 2009 [TW] |
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98200087 U |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/173;
439/640 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R
13/6675 (20130101); H01R 13/514 (20130101); H01R
31/06 (20130101); H01R 27/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
29/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;439/620.1,170,172,173,174,650,640,956 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
US. Appl. No. 12/627,522, filed Nov. 30, 2009, Chiang et al. cited
by other.
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Primary Examiner: Hyeon; Hae Moon
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier
& Neustadt, L.L.P.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A converter comprising: a casing having a connection side; an
external surface; a mounting recess being formed in the connection
side of the casing and having a bottom, an annular sidewall and a
center; multiple position posts being formed on and protruding from
the bottom of the mounting recess around the center of the mounting
recess and each position post having an external surface; multiple
conductive slices being mounted around the position posts; and
multiple mounting protrusions being formed on the annular sidewall
of the mounting recess; and a plug being detachably mounted on the
casing and having an escutcheon covering the mounting recess of the
casing and having an outer side; a connection side; and an external
surface; an engaging protrusion being formed on and protruding from
the connection side of the escutcheon, being mounted in the
mounting recess of the casing and having a center; an outer
sidewall; a position groove being annular formed in the engaging
protrusion around the center of the engaging protrusion and being
mounted around the position posts of the casing; and multiple
holding grooves being formed on the outer sidewall of the engaging
protrusion and engaging the mounting protrusions of the casing; and
multiple terminals being formed on and protruding from the outer
side of the escutcheon, and each terminal being contacted with one
of the conductive slices of the casing.
2. The converter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the casing has
multiple datum marks formed on the external surface of the casing
near the connection side of the casing; and the escutcheon has
multiple confirm marks formed on the external surface of the
escutcheon and corresponding to and aligning with the datum marks
of the casing.
3. The converter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the casing has an
engaging tab being formed on and protruding from the bottom of the
mounting recess near the center of the mounting recess and between
the position posts; and the engaging protrusion has an engaging
hole being formed in the center of the engaging protrusion to
engage the engaging tab of the casing.
4. The converter as claimed in claim 3, wherein the casing has four
position posts being formed on and protruding from the bottom of
the mounting recess, and each pair of adjacent position posts has a
specified distance; and the plug has two terminals being formed on
and protruding from the outer side of the escutcheon and a distance
between the terminals being equal to or smaller than the specified
distances of the adjacent position posts.
5. The converter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the casing has an
engaging tab being formed on and protruding from the bottom of the
mounting recess near the center of the mounting recess and between
the position posts; and the engaging protrusion has an engaging
hole being formed in the center of the engaging protrusion to
engage the engaging tab of the casing.
6. The converter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the casing has four
position posts being formed on and protruding from the bottom of
the mounting recess, and each pair of adjacent position posts has a
specified distance; and the plug has two terminals being formed on
and protruding from the outer side of the escutcheon and a distance
between the terminals being equal to or smaller than the specified
distances of the adjacent position posts.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a converter, and more particularly
to a converter that can adjust the direction of a plug relative to
a casing of the converter.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional converter is used to transform and rectify voltage
of a power source and has a casing and a plug. The casing has an
interior, a conversion module, a connection surface and a mounting
recess. The conversion module is mounted in the interior of the
casing. The mounting recess is formed in the connection surface of
the casing. The plug is detachably mounted in casing, selectively
mounted in the power source and has a connection surface and a
mounting panel. The mounting panel is formed on and protrudes from
the connection surface of the plug and is detachably mounted in the
mounting recess of the casing.
Although, the plug can be detachably connected to the casing of the
conventional converter by the mounting recess and the mounting
panel. However, the connection direction between the plug and the
casing of the conventional converter is fixed and cannot be
adjusted or changed. When the conventional converter is interfered
with the object or the structure that mounted around the power
outlet and the plug of the conventional converter cannot mount with
the power outlet and this is inconvenient in use.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a
converter to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a
converter that can adjust the direction of a plug relative to a
casing of the converter.
The converter in accordance with the present invention has a casing
and a plug. The casing has a mounting recess, multiple position
posts, multiple conductive slices and multiple mounting
protrusions. The mounting recess is formed in the casing. The
position posts are formed on and protrude from a bottom of the
mounting recess. The conductive slices are mounted around the
position posts and connected to the bottom of the mounting recess.
The mounting protrusions are formed on the mounting recess. The
plug is detachably mounted on the casing and has an escutcheon, an
engaging protrusion and multiple terminals. The escutcheon covers
the mounting recess. The engaging protrusion is formed on the
escutcheon, is mounted in the mounting recess and has a position
groove and multiple holding grooves. The position is annular formed
in the engaging protrusion and is mounted around the position
posts. The holding grooves are formed on the engaging protrusion
and engage the mounting protrusions. The terminals are formed on
the escutcheon
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention
will become more apparent from the following detailed description
when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a converter in accordance with the
present invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the converter in FIG.
1;
FIGS. 3 and 4 are operational side views in partial cross section
of the converter in FIG. 2 showing that a plug being mounted to a
casing of the converter;
FIG. 5 is another operational side view in partial cross section of
the converter in FIG. 2 showing that the plug being mounted to the
casing of the converter in a different direction; and
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the converter in FIG. 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a converter in accordance with the
present invention comprises a casing (10) and a plug (20).
The casing (10) has a connection side, an external surface, a
mounting recess (11), multiple position posts (12), multiple
conductive slices (13), an engaging tab (14), multiple mounting
protrusions (15) and multiple datum marks (16).
The mounting recess (11) is formed in the connection side of the
casing (10) and has a bottom, an annular sidewall and a center.
The position posts (12) are formed on and protrude from the bottom
of the mounting recess (11) around the center of the mounting
recess (11) and each position post (12) has an external surface,
and may be four position posts (12) formed on and protrude from the
bottom of the mounting recess (11), and each pair of adjacent
position posts (12) have a specified distance.
The conductive slices (13) are mounted around the position posts
(12) and connected to the bottom of the mounting recess (11).
The engaging tab (14) is formed on and protrudes from the bottom of
the mounting recess (11) near the center of the mounting recess
(11) and between the position posts (12).
The mounting protrusions (15) are formed on the annular sidewall of
the mounting recess (11).
The datum marks (16) are formed on the external surface of the
casing (10) near the connection side.
The plug (20) is detachably mounted on the casing (10) and has an
escutcheon (21), an engaging protrusion (22) and multiple terminals
(23).
The escutcheon (21) covers the mounting recess (11) of the casing
(10) and has an outer side, a connection side, an external surface
and multiple confirm marks (211). The confirm marks (211) are
formed on the external surface of the escutcheon (21) and
correspond to and align with the datum marks (16) of the casing
(10).
The engaging protrusion (22) is formed on and protrudes from the
connection side of the escutcheon (21), corresponds to and is
mounted in the mounting recess (11) of the casing (10) and has a
center, an outer sidewall, an engaging hole (221), a position
groove (222) and multiple holding grooves (223). The engaging hole
(221) is formed in the center of the engaging protrusion (22) to
engage the engaging tab (14) of the casing (10). The position
groove (222) is annular formed in the engaging protrusion (22)
around the engaging hole (221) and is mounted around the position
posts (12) of the casing (10). The holding grooves (223) are formed
on the outer sidewall of the engaging protrusion (22) and engage
the mounting protrusions (15) of the casing (10).
The terminals (23) are formed on and protrude from the outer side
of the escutcheon (21). Preferably, the plug (20) has two terminals
(23) formed on and protrude from the outer side of the escutcheon
(21) and contacted with two of the conductive slices (13) of the
casing (10), and a distance between the terminals (23) is equal to
or smaller than the specified distances between the adjacent
position posts (12).
With further reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the plug (20) is mounted
on the casing (10) by inserting the engaging protrusion (22) of the
plug (20) into the mounting recess (11) to make the position groove
(222) mounting around the position posts (12) of the casing (10),
moving the plug (20) relative to the mounting recess (11) of the
casing (10), when the confirm marks (211) of the escutcheon (21)
align with the datum marks (16) of the casing (10), the engaging
hole (221) of the engaging protrusion (22) will engage the engaging
tab (14) of the casing (10). At the same time, the mounting
protrusions (15) in the mounting recess (11) of the casing (10)
will engage the holding grooves (223) of the engaging protrusion
(22) to hold the plug (20) securely with the casing (10).
With further reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, the position groove (222)
of the plug (20) is annular formed in the engaging protrusion (22)
to mount around the position posts (12) of the casing (10) and the
distance between the two terminals (23) is equal to or smaller than
the specified distance of the adjacent position posts (12). Then,
the two terminals (23) can be aligned with two of the position
posts (12) and contacted with the conductive slices (13) that
mounted on the corresponding position posts (12) at the same time.
When the converter is interfered with the object or the structure
that mounted around the power outlet and the plug can be adjusted
and changed the direction at a angle of 90, 180 or 270 to mount
with the power outlet and this is convenient in use.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present
utility model have been set forth in the foregoing description,
together with details of the structure and features of the utility
model, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in
the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement
of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent
indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the
appended claims are expressed.
* * * * *